Former police officer gets 7 years in child sex assault case

2-year court process takes toll on family

A former law enforcement officer was sentenced to seven years in the Department of Corrections Wednesday, after facing charges for repeatedly sexually assaulting a child between May and December 2010.

The family of the victim, a 7-year-old boy, says he and the family are still reeling from the psychological damage 51-year-old Nicholas Reed Hubert inflicted on them.

“Our family has been completely torn apart,” said the mother of the victim, in court.The Journal-Advocate is not identifying the child's mother to protect the his identity. “We're still in the process of rebuilding. It's unspeakable.”

Hubert took a plea for a stipulated five-year sentence for second-degree assault, and District Judge Michael Singer added two more years for attempted sexual assault on a child in a position of trust. He faced a maximum eight-year sentence.

The sentence requires Hubert to register as a sex offender, but he won't qualify as a sexually violent predator. According to Colorado Statutes, a sexually violent predator cannot have known the victim or must have established a relationship with the victim for the purpose of sexually assaulting them, which Hubert did not do.

The defendant was a 25-year police veteran and former chief of police in South Carolina, according to the child's mother, and was the adopted father of her former fiancee, Jeffrey “Jay” Hubert.

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The woman said her son saw Hubert as a grandfather.

She knew something was suspicious when her son started getting gifts from Hubert. Jay had other children who didn't receive anything from the defendant.

One day, when she was giving her son a bath, he “came out with it.”

She called her father and the Logan County Sheriff's Office, who arrested him on charges of sexual assault on a child in a position of trust. The victim was 3 when the abuse started, his mother said, and had just turned 5 when Hubert was arrested.

It took two years to finish the case. Hubert first pleaded not guilty, but accepted a plea before the case went to trial. He also attempted to withdraw his guilty plea in August.

Jacob Lofgren, Hubert's defense attorney, said during the sentencing that the pre-sentence investigation showed a clear lack of criminal history, as well as a lack of sexual offenses or violent behavior.

He said Hubert would probably be successful on parole and was open and honest about the events, when asked by investigators.

“Hubert expresses guilt, anxiety and an indication he's somewhat remorseful,” Lofgren said. He then pointed out “the elephant in the room”: that he was still in denial of wrongdoing. “The purpose of treatment is to overcome that denial.”

“I think he's more remorseful about getting caught,” said Deputy District Attorney Zack Balkin later in the hearing. “He admitted what he did to a deputy ... then went on to deny it for two years.”

Balkin also pointed out the defendant's prior history in law enforcement – though he wasn't in a law enforcement position at the time of the incidents – and said that he seriously violated the level of trust put on him by the family.

Hubert offered a lengthy apology to the court, saying that a sorry seemed inadequate for his friends and family. He especially apologized to the victim, who was not in court, “for failing him.”

“I want (the kids) to know that despite what happened, I want them to know I love them very much,” he said.

He added that he'd like to contact the family when he was released. The victim's mother and other family members said they want nothing to do with him.

“I think because he was a member of law enforcement, he knew what he was facing,” she said the next day. “He was trying to get empathy from the judge.”

The family has about six hours of therapy between them each week at Centennial Mental Health, the mother said. She put her son in a couple classes to help him cope with the trauma, and they see progress come and go.

Jay was torn during the ordeal. The child's mother said Hubert saved him and his brother from their abusive father when they were kids. He doesn't understand how his adopted father could turn around and abuse his son.

The situation also aggravated his post-traumatic stress disorder, which he received while fighting the war in Iraq.

Neither the mother, Jay or the rest of the victim's family believe Hubert received enough time.

Judge Michael Singer, however, said it wouldn't have been appropriate to give him the maximum sentence, taking into account his apology and his lack of criminal history.

But he, too, said he'd describe Hubert as in a state of denial and that it was “sad, but not surprising, to hear that (the victim) and the family dealt with a great deal of trauma.”

Had Hubert gone to trial, he would have been looking at up to life in prison, Singer said.

But the victim would have had to take the stand during the trial, a trauma his family said they didn't want him to endure.

“(The victim) being on the stand is not worth the extra time spent on this,” Jay said during the hearing. “His innocence is gone now. We'll try hard to bring some of it back.”

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